Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[mspohr]

Europe Rolls Out Vision for a Carbonless Future, but Big Obstacles Loom Europe Rolls Out Vision for a Carbonless Future, but Big Obstacles Loom

The 12 legislative proposals presented on Wednesday are designed to reduce reliance on fossil fuels including coal, oil and natural gas; to expand the use of renewable-energy sources including solar, wind and hydro power to at least 38.5 percent of all energy by 2030; to force the faster development of electric cars with much tighter CO2 limits and hope to end the sale of all internal-combustion cars by 2035 (a target that some countries, like France, believe is too strict); and to support clean-energy options for aviation and shipping, which are prime polluters. For the first time, a carbon market will be established for road transportation and buildings.

One of the key proposals announced on Wednesday is a revision of Europe’s carbon market, known as the Emissions Trading Scheme, under which major carbon producers like steel, cement and power pay directly for their carbon emissions. Another central but contentious proposal is a carbon border-adjustment tax that will target goods produced outside the bloc, so that European companies bearing the cost of decarbonization are not disadvantaged by cheaper imports from companies that do not.

 

[mspohr]

MIT Predicted in 1972 That Society Will Collapse This Century. New Research Shows We’re on Schedule.

A 1972 MIT study predicted that rapid economic growth would lead to societal collapse in the mid 21st century. A new paper shows we’re unfortunately right on schedule.

www.vice.com

Herrington’s new analysis examines data across 10 key variables, namely population, fertility rates, mortality rates, industrial output, food production, services, non-renewable resources, persistent pollution, human welfare, and ecological footprint. She found that the latest data most closely aligns with two particular scenarios, ‘BAU2’ (business-as-usual) and ‘CT’ (comprehensive technology).
“BAU2 and CT scenarios show a halt in growth within a decade or so from now,” the study concludes. “Both scenarios thus indicate that continuing business as usual, that is, pursuing continuous growth, is not possible. Even when paired with unprecedented technological development and adoption, business as usual as modelled by LtG would inevitably lead to declines in industrial capital, agricultural output, and welfare levels within this century.”

 

[Texas Electric]

Where are you getting every 30 years? Last was a decade ago.

Burn more fossil fuel and once a decade becomes once every 5 years them yearly.

The thirty years comes from this.

Brrr: US shivered through its coldest February in more than 30 years

If you thought it was unusually cold last month, you were right: Thanks to an invasion of the polar vortex, February 2021 was the USA's coldest February in over 30 years.

www.google.com

 

[eevee-fan]

The thirty years comes from this.

Brrr: US shivered through its coldest February in more than 30 years

If you thought it was unusually cold last month, you were right: Thanks to an invasion of the polar vortex, February 2021 was the USA's coldest February in over 30 years.

www.google.com

So when TX lost power 10 yr ago and people died, that was nothing? I guess that is why nothing was done foe 10 years to improve reliability. Thanks, that explains a lot.

 

[mspohr]

Trillions of dollars spent on Covid recovery in ways that harm environment

Trillions of dollars poured into rescuing economies around the world from the Covid-19 crisis have been spent in ways that worsen the climate crisis and harm nature because governments have failed to fulfil promises of a “green recovery” from the pandemic.

About $3tn was spent in ways that would increase greenhouse emissions and harm the natural world, outweighing the $1.8tn spent globally on green projects, such as renewable energy and low-carbon transport.

 

[mspohr]

It Seems Odd That We Would Just Let the World Burn Opinion | It Seems Odd That We Would Just Let the World Burn

I spent the weekend reading a book I wasn’t entirely comfortable being seen with in public. Andreas Malm’s “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” is only slightly inaptly named. You won’t find, anywhere inside, instructions on sabotaging energy infrastructure. A truer title would be “Why to Blow Up a Pipeline.” On this, Malm’s case is straightforward: Because nothing else has worked.

“Here is what this movement of millions should do, for a start,” Malm writes. “Announce and enforce the prohibition. Damage and destroy new CO2-emitting devices. Put them out of commission, pick them apart, demolish them, burn them, blow them up. Let the capitalists who keep on investing in the fire know that their properties will be trashed.”

Humanity has spent thousands of years building the social organizations and technological mastery to insulate itself from the whims of nature. We are spending down that inheritance, turning back the clock. I don’t believe this reveals our true preference for the world our descendants will inhabit. I believe it reveals our deeply human inability to take the future as seriously as we take the present.

 

[JRP3]

Numbers of floods could quadruple as the gravitational effects of the lunar cycle combine with climate change to produce "a decade of dramatic increases" in water disasters.
The space agency said coastal cities would experience "rapidly increasing high-tide floods" and they would occur in "clusters" lasting a month or longer.
It said the main cause was a "regular wobble" in the moon’s orbit, which was first recorded in 1728.

‘Wobbling’ moon will cause devastating worldwide flooding in 2030s, Nasa warns

Coastal cities under threat from ‘rapidly increasing high tide floods’ which could occur in clusters lasting a month or more, say scientists

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[mspohr]

‘Wobbling’ moon will cause devastating worldwide flooding in 2030s, Nasa warns

Coastal cities under threat from ‘rapidly increasing high tide floods’ which could occur in clusters lasting a month or more, say scientists

www.telegraph.co.uk

It's started:

Germany mounts huge rescue effort after floods leave dozens dead and many more missing

At least 55 people have died due to severe flooding in Western Europe, caused by what experts described as the heaviest rainfall in a century.

www.cnn.com

 

[JRP3]

That's rainfall flooding, not the tidal flooding projected in the article.

 

[mspohr]

That's rainfall flooding, not the tidal flooding projected in the article.

I missed that point.
So now we have two sources of flooding... rainfall and tides.

 

[cpa]

‘Wobbling’ moon will cause devastating worldwide flooding in 2030s, Nasa warns

Coastal cities under threat from ‘rapidly increasing high tide floods’ which could occur in clusters lasting a month or more, say scientists

www.telegraph.co.uk

I think Louie Gohmert is on to something here, amirite?

Fact check: Gohmert's attempts to connect moon orbits and solar flares to climate change | CNN Politics

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas made an argument about climate change at a House subcommittee hearing Tuesday that appeared to elicit confusion from a government official and ridicule on Twitter.

www.cnn.com

 

[Texas Electric]

So when TX lost power 10 yr ago and people died, that was nothing? I guess that is why nothing was done foe 10 years to improve reliability. Thanks, that explains a lot.

Did anybody die from cold 10 years ago? The National Weather Service office in El Paso has a good synopsis of the 2011 event.

https://www.weather.gov/media/epz/Storm_Reports/Cold11/Feb2011ColdWx.pdf

 

[SmartElectric]

Texas deploys GW of wind turbines without spending a few more percent to get the cold weather package.

Ontario Canada deploys about 1/3 as much wind as Texas in same period but these turbines run winter and summer without fail.

Ontario stopped using coal and smog days went from 200 per year in Toronto to zero. 6GW of coal no longer needed, wind now produces more power than fossil fuels in Ontario.

Texas, not as capable as Ontario Canada. That’s the lesson?

Ontario government is highly conservative today, run by the crack smoking mayors brother. How is this possible that Texas politicians get less done for their citizens than the rediculous losers Ontario has running it??

 

[Texas Electric]

Texas deploys GW of wind turbines without spending a few more percent to get the cold weather package.

Ontario Canada deploys about 1/3 as much wind as Texas in same period but these turbines run winter and summer without fail.

Ontario stopped using coal and smog days went from 200 per year in Toronto to zero. 6GW of coal no longer needed, wind now produces more power than fossil fuels in Ontario.

Texas, not as capable as Ontario Canada. That’s the lesson?

Ontario government is highly conservative today, run by the crack smoking mayors brother. How is this possible that Texas politicians get less done for their citizens than the rediculous losers Ontario has running it??

If Texas was a country, it would rank number 5 in the world for wind energy production.

Wind power in Texas - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[eevee-fan]

If Texas was a country, it would rank number 5 in the world for wind energy production.

Wind power in Texas - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Too big to fail... oh wait, it did.

 

[SmartElectric]

T Boone Pickens said there is plenty of oil out there. The hard part is getting to it. When the easy to get to stuff runs out, the oil price will skyrocket

Alberta Canada has tar sands sitting in the ground just waiting for $80/barrel to come online again.

That would be disastrous for climate.
The amount of tar vastly exceeds most conventional reserves and requires zero investment to find more of it.

The issue has NEVER been that oil is scarce or expensive to get. The issue is that the result of burning it is causing serious issues for global climate.

Texans need not fear a future where they are marginalized because they no longer have a central role in energy. They need to fear a future where climate change forced cold weather events requires them to move their water heaters indoors, insulate their homes and otherwise prepare for what happened this year, much more often. Billions upon billions of dollars to adapt. I mean, Texas looked like an ill prepared third world country, not the 5th largest country.

But whatever. The world will move on with or without Texas. Getting marginalized will be part of the bargain for ignoring reality.

 

[Texas Electric]

It Seems Odd That We Would Just Let the World Burn Opinion | It Seems Odd That We Would Just Let the World Burn

I spent the weekend reading a book I wasn’t entirely comfortable being seen with in public. Andreas Malm’s “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” is only slightly inaptly named. You won’t find, anywhere inside, instructions on sabotaging energy infrastructure. A truer title would be “Why to Blow Up a Pipeline.” On this, Malm’s case is straightforward: Because nothing else has worked.

“Here is what this movement of millions should do, for a start,” Malm writes. “Announce and enforce the prohibition. Damage and destroy new CO2-emitting devices. Put them out of commission, pick them apart, demolish them, burn them, blow them up. Let the capitalists who keep on investing in the fire know that their properties will be trashed.”

Humanity has spent thousands of years building the social organizations and technological mastery to insulate itself from the whims of nature. We are spending down that inheritance, turning back the clock. I don’t believe this reveals our true preference for the world our descendants will inhabit. I believe it reveals our deeply human inability to take the future as seriously as we take the present.

While at it, you can blow up every truck tanker on the road, every rail tanker, and ocean tanker. That’ll learn them oil polluters a lesson!

 

[Texas Electric]

Alberta Canada has tar sands sitting in the ground just waiting for $80/barrel to come online again.

That would be disastrous for climate.
The amount of tar vastly exceeds most conventional reserves and requires zero investment to find more of it.

The issue has NEVER been that oil is scarce or expensive to get. The issue is that the result of burning it is causing serious issues for global climate.

Texans need not fear a future where they are marginalized because they no longer have a central role in energy. They need to fear a future where climate change forced cold weather events requires them to move their water heaters indoors, insulate their homes and otherwise prepare for what happened this year, much more often. Billions upon billions of dollars to adapt. I mean, Texas looked like an ill prepared third world country, not the 5th largest country.

But whatever. The world will move on with or without Texas. Getting marginalized will be part of the bargain for ignoring reality.

5th largest country? No. 5th largest in wind energy production. Texas produces more wind energy than all of Canada! The Unites States, China, Germany, and India are the only countries that out produce Texas in wind energy generation.

 

[ohmman]

5th largest country? No. 5th largest in wind energy production. Texas produces more wind energy than all of Canada! The Unites States, China, Germany, and India are the only countries that out produce Texas in wind energy generation.

I was curious about this because saying the United States outproduces Texas might include the Texas generation statistics since Texas is part of the US. But the rest of the states combined do indeed have more installed capacity than Texas. Still, Texas has over 3x the installed capacity of the second state (Oklahoma).

As a more apt comparison, Texas has installed 33k GW of a potential of about 1.3M GW, so the installed amount is equivalent to approximately 2.5% of potential. Oklahoma has installed 9048GW of a potential 359k GW, also 2.5%. California has installed 5922GW of a potential 303k GW, just under 2% of potential.

Numbers are from energy.gov and there's a link as to how they ascertain the "potential" numbers. They're a bit loose (grades > 3% are excluded, for instance). Interesting stuff overall.

 

[JRP3]

If Texas was a country, it would rank number 5 in the world for wind energy production.

Except when it's cold.